July 28, 2016

The province’s Independent Electricity System Operator
(IESO) has approved a number of feed-in tariff (FIT) projects for Minden Hills
and Algonquin Highlands.

The IESO recently released a list of 936 renewable energy
projects that were approved in the latest round of applications, more than 20
of them in Haliburton County.

In Algonquin Highlands, five ground-mounted, solar projects
were approved, all of them receiving support resolutions from Algonquin
Highlands council last year.

As part of the program’s application process, applicants
earn “priority points” by receiving support resolutions from municipal councils
in townships where proposed projects are located. While approval or denial from
the IESO does not hinge on municipal support, priority points help applicants
gain approval.

In Minden Hills, four small-scale, ground-mounted solar
projects were approved. However, those projects did not receive support from
council.

Reeve Brent Devolin noted that criteria for FIT applications
have changed in successive versions of the program.

“When it started out, they didn’t need any municipal
approval,” Devolin said.

Minden Hills council received numerous requests for support
resolutions last year. Council, noting there was no standardized framework for
assessing projects, denied support for the majority of those and struck a
renewable energy task force, which tabled a renewable energy policy this
spring.

Applications for the four projects that have been approved
by the IESO were initially granted support resolutions by the previous Minden
Hills council in 2014.

In October of 2015, the current Minden Hills council
rescinded support resolutions for those projects and seven other FIT
applications that had been granted by the previous council.

Despite lack of support from Minden Hills council, four of
those 11 projects – three located along Blairhampton Road and one along Highway
35 – have been approved by the IESO.

Devolin has said numerous times he believes that
municipalities should see some sort of financial gain from FIT projects, just
as the involved landowners and companies do, a sentiment he repeated earlier
this week.

“In my opinion, they’re robbing us on this,” the reeve said.
Devolin said he plans to look further into the approval of the projects and
that it might be a topic of conversation with provincial ministers at the
upcoming Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.

The projects are not to be visible from roadways or
neighbouring properties, with minimum 20-metre setbacks from property lines and
visual screening.

Projects were also approved in both Dysart et al and
Highlands East townships.

According to the IESO, of the 936 projects approved in the
latest round of applications, 906 are solar projects, seven water, six on-shore
wind projects and 14 bio-energy projects.

A release from the IESO says that 92 per cent of successful
applications received municipal support resolutions.